The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation increased from his $258,394 while defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
